Precision medicine research is advancing rapidly. New discoveries in how genetic, biological and environmental factors influence health and disease are leading to the development of new diagnostic tools and individualized therapies for many conditions. For many health care providers, keeping abreast of new discoveries and applying them to patient care can be a challenge.

The American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) and Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine (CIM) are collaborating to bridge the genomics education gap for health care providers. The two organizations will facilitate the use of genomics in medicine through education programs for health professionals.

“Genetics and genomics are evolving rapidly and reshaping significant areas of the healthcare landscape and medical education,” says Joseph McInerney, executive vice president ASHG. “To keep pace with these developments and translate them into healthcare, learners require accurate, current, and clinically useful information conveyed through high-quality educational products and programs,” says McInerney.

Dr. Keith Stewart

“As the individuals conducting research and implementing findings in the clinic, Mayo Clinic and ASHG members are particularly well suited to advancing genetic and genomic literacy at this significant inflection point in medical history,” says Keith Stewart, M.B., Ch.B., Carlson and Nelson Endowed Director, CIM, and Vasek and Anna Maria Polak Professor of Cancer Research. “By combining the expertise of our organizations and leveraging our resources collaboratively, we hope to fill this need and improve health outcomes.”

The first joint ASHG-CIM educational program, targeted to obstetrician gynecologists and related health professionals, will address the use of prenatal cell-free DNA (cfDNA) screening in pregnant women, which provides a non-invasive method of prenatal genetic testing.

Learn more about this collaboration here.

Join the conversation

For more information on the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine and our recent Individualizing Medicine Conference 2016: Advancing Care Through Genomics, visit our blog, Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter at @MayoClinicCIM.

You’ll want to save the date for next year’s Individualizing Medicine Conference. It will be held Oct. 9-11, 2017.

Tags: #American Society of Human Genetics, #ASHG, #Genetics education, #health education programs, #individualized mediicne, #Joseph McInerney, #medical education, #medicalschool, #PrecisionMedicine, center for individualized medicine, Dr. Keith Stewart, genomics, mayo clinic, Uncategorized